I NEED A NEW PLEDGE

 

Do you feel like you need a new pledge of allegiance? Write one stating your allegiance to anything and email it to: ineedanewpledge@gmail.com.

Newly-posted pledges will be added at the bottom of the page. All pieces are © their authors (of course!).

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NEW PLEDGE

I pledge allegiance to the mind
of the united seers of wilderness.
And to the psychosis we’ve left behind,
I say,
You are fear.
You are useless.
Evaporate, once and for all.

Richard Loranger
Oakland, CA

 

I pledge allegiance
to the people
of the lost grace
of america
and to the humanity
which will not stand
for this annihilation
disappointing god
until there is liberty
and justice
for all

Poet AF
San Diego, CA

 

I pledge allegiance to Poetry –
United in words
and to the Breath for which they stand,
Many voices, under Sky
with listen and speak for all.

Gary Glazner
Chicago, IL

 

I pledge allegiance to the Human Race,
and the myriad permutations therein.
There will come a day
We must join together
To fight an unimaginable foe.
Our duty: In time, accepting
We have much more in common
Than arbitrarily chosen divisions.
May we join together as one race, united,
With acceptance and hope for one and all.

Wayne Goodman
Vallejo, CA

 

Sonoma Charter School’s Pledge to the World

I pledge allegiance to the world
To cherish every living thing
To care for earth and sea and air
For peace and freedom everywhere
You have been given the gift of a new day
Receive it, use it as a lifelong quest
for knowledge and understanding
So that you may likewise be a gift to the Earth
And all her inhabitants

Sonoma Charter School
for International Peace Day 2017
Sonoma, CA
contributed by Steven Meloan
CA

 

[plague of allegiance]

disruption is paramount
in rewiring system and structure
from the baseline of the soul’s survival
within these instinctual cities of our being
as well as thru the scenic tributaries of tactical advantage
outside our walls

change will chalk its initials
upon new monuments to humanity’s highest truth
while toppling the bygone monoliths of lies and oppression
that only the most callous and clueless of our collective species
continue to hold sacred.

Edward L. Canavan
North Hollywood, CA

 

I pledge allegiance in the blind
To the alleged point of anything
And to the remembrance of all I knew
Who trusted me to follow through
With gratitude and hazy IPA for all.

David L Cooper
Oakland, CA

 

I pledge allergies to my cats
And the apartment we share with my girlfriend
2 doses of levocetirizine
Air filters and vacuums for all

Hilary Brown
Chicago, IL

 

I Pledge Allegiance to Seeing and Making

I don’t pretend to understand
How words
Or a basket
How making
How shelf mushrooms on a
Stick how
Ripe and
Unusual fruit
All orange on a tree in the
Fog can stop the
Bleeding as well as
Cobwebs or
Anything else that splits the
Blood proteins and helps
Organize clotting and I
Know that my
Gingerbread or
Honey rolls can’t
Heal every wounded thing
With more to come
Still I
Pledge to make to
See
Somehow
Every day
Until I can’t and
Maybe we
Rewire this place
Maybe we can help it heal

Kim Shuck
San Francisco, CA

 

NEW PLEDGE

I pledge allegiance to what is kind
of the united spirit of chaos.
And to the psyche, collective and personal,
both shadow and light, signifying love,
integrated with intention:
With all that I am and all that I have,
under the sun
with beauty and joy for all.

Debby Segal
Berkeley, CA

 

I pledge my being to the Unity of life and to the Earth, our home
indivisible, without limitations saving only what is required to uphold
the equality and dignity of All.

I give my breath to poetry and to the autonomy of everyone who creates
and expresses in verse unlimited by anyone’s, including my own,
favor, validation, or understanding.

Anita May
Crockett, CA

 

I pledge allegiance to the love
that gets us through the night,
and to the compassion
that lends a hand,
even to the hate-filled and ignorant,
and to such friendship freely offered
as brings together
work of justice and play of freedom
forever, for all

Glenn Ingersoll
Berkeley, CA

 

I pledge allegiance
to my Self
& also to my Other

for which I stand &
also stand
with a whole another

between two wholes
which make a half
& also oneanother

Ed Go
Brooklyn, NY

 

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE BODY!
To your body, specifically
To the curve of your neck
To your laughter in the dark
WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF=EVIDENT
That the love between lovers keeps life itself alive
The two become One (sometimes)
FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO
Our Ancestors were preparing us genetically
To articulate new truths for the complex days we find ourselves in now
Ask not what your country can do for you
‘Ask what you can do for your country
MY COUNTRY-TIS OF THEE!

Michael Kelly
Austin, TX

 

I pledge my allegiance
to bygone mensroom walls
those scribble rosetta invitationals
directly above the reeking urinal,
even tho’ according them all
well everybody’s always in
better shape than me

so I pledge to the ceiling too
to which I’ll let fly my explosive
expectorates right after adding my
comments to the anonymity
of those smelly-handed
piss-braggadocios

let me drip then on the next
desperate scribbler’s my
ambuscad’l intent, yea
might go desiccate up
there, spit’s thin dry
stalactite above ye

look up, this my pledge
warns, or stare straight
at the wall-scribe’s omen :
your downcast gaze can’t
avoid my slimy drip, nay
I am the very him who
pledged it here, first !

Ralph La Charity
Cincinnati, OH

 

InSaints

~ for Marian Anderson
Aug 13 1968 – Nov 4, 2001

to the InSaint

saints in their allegiance
to rabid artists ruthless
in their revolutions
by microphone   wild pen   loud paint

to the InSaint

insane for her relentless wrestling
with cemeteried living, the civilized
dead who nest in churches burning
starving for scripture that saves

to the InSaint

the bruised, back patched
street protector, policed & caged
their evicted street codes
molested   murdered   arrested

to the InSaint

armed with reason & courage to rescue
the queen hemmed inside his soul
or the bold butch unleashing
an honest man from her iron breast

to his InSaint

daughter, now a sex worker
her vandalized bedtime
stories trafficked by a vagrant
father drunk in her underpants

anointed, InSainted she survives
by hijacking his narrative
this is her body, at her cost

it’s not for free

to the Beaten

InSaint, those weathered by fists
the pummeled InSaints craving sour
blood in their broken noses, swollen
mouths harboring savage mantras

& feral
unspeakable
secrets

to the Sinner

InSaint disappointed
in this world’s repetition, basking
in dirty water baptisms, hungry
for a wilderness god, for afterlives

where mouths are stitched
with pearls stolen by pirates
where eyes are cataracted
by clouds made by ferocious angels

fallen

to every InSaint

waging war in rotten worlds captured
by the callous & tyrants
I hear your fire
from lemurian trenches

I wave your flag
in every battle

I pledge
my allegiance.

K.R. Morrison
Bay Area, CA

 

LEDGE

I pledge allegiance to
flapping prayer flags across the planet
and through my mind
All sentient beings have been my kitten
Her head on my thigh
as I stare at the blank wall
I pledge to a dream that wakes on a non-existent couch
& laughs
The end of America has been voted in
Head touching floor in a bow to a statue
that is my secret heart
Tea offering to the Protectors
in the crisp December night

Marc Olmsted
Portland, OR

 

I pledge allegiance to you and me,
the collective of our humanity,
and from the capitalist nightmare we wake
one world, interconnected, beautifully woven, with recognition and love for us all.

I pledge allegiance to all things weird and all things unconventional,
and to the rebels, with visions wide, one new and pulsing world, red with joy, unbridled and ecstatic forever.

Deborah Perry
Boston, MA

 

I Pledge Allegiance to The American Dream

The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be
better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each
according to ability or achievement.
—James Truslow Adams, Epic of America

For the young sailor whose chin rests on weathered wooden rails
Below full sails, as he peers into distant horizons,
To seek the dawn of a new day in a new world …
For the patriot, whose faith trumps fear, who clutches his rifle near,
As he gazes across morning mists hanging above the verdant fields of
Lexington, of Concord,
Daring to believe that he will, one day, be free to call himself
An American…
For the African slave sitting on splintered steps of a worn wooden
Shack,
Smoke rising from hearth fires, the remains of the meager meal,
Clasping calloused hands together to pray for his deliverance…
For the immigrant whose hands grip cold metal rails,
Eyes stare at the Lady of the Harbor
Her torch held aloft to light the way to freedom…

I Pledge Allegiance to
the Constitution of the United States of America,
that Constitution that so many of our politicians today
swear to uphold each year – with crossed fingers behind their back.
I Pledge Allegiance to
the welder, the bricklayer, the fireman, the teacher,
the policeman, the professor, and the poet,
who work each day in their own way to ensure the fulfillment of
promises that that Declaration made first so many years ago…
I Pledge Allegiance to
Black and White,
Yellow, Brown and Red,
Gay and Straight,
Young and Old
Who have faith that this day will be better than the last,

That their cause will be worthy of sacrifice,
that their lives will be lived in liberty,
that the pursuit of happiness will forever be guaranteed—
and that America will give hope
for all who dare to hope,
who dare to pay
the price to dream.
I Pledge Allegiance to
The American Dream.

Christopher Bogart
Eatontown, NJ

 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

“The first time I ever saw an American flag / was on a can of Budweiser.”
– John Dorsey, from Iron City Independence Poem

When did they steal the flag, wrap
Themselves up in it waving a bible,
Keeping it for themselves alone?
Why did we let them have it?
Why didn’t we claim it as ours?

When did I start to fear the flag
I used to proudly salute as a boy?
When did seeing it flying, double-barreled,
From the back of a big, old, rusty
pick-up truck cause me to recoil?

They arrested people for burning a
flag in protest of the killing done in
our names in Viet Nam, Cambodia.
Said it was disrespectful, we were traitors.
But they emblazon it on beer cans,
beach towels, snot rags, underwear,
skimpy bikinis for their women, paper
plates and napkins for their 4th of July
bar-b-ques. They wipe their greasy
mouths and shitty asses with its image,
then accuse me of disrespecting it,
threatening violence in defense
of their flag while they monetize it
in every conceivable marketable way,
making as much money as they can,
selling what they claim to be sacred.

M.J. Arcangelini
Santa Rosa, CA

 

I pledge allegiance to the fish who sing to the rising sun
to the mother squirrel who fights a snake to save her kit
to the seagull who, in mid flight, pecks the neck of an eagle until it releases her friend
to the divers who free a whale from nets and garbage
to the cat that leads a blind dog
to the goat that leads a blind horse
to the swan hugging the neck of the man who saved her
to the ones who play their instruments for wounded elephants and four legged creatures
I pledge allegiance to all the creatures who suffer at the hands and doings of humans
and all the beings who are working to heal them
I pledge allegiance to sea, earth and sky
and all the gods, angels and witches that seek
renewed ancient ways to restore our mother
to her true self

Kimi Sugioka
Alameda, CA

 

I pledge my breathing
to our days
in a united state of embrace
and to the fulfillment
of desire’s whispers
pure elation
under queer blue skies
with memories
of just us
forever.

Jeffrey Bryant
Los Angeles, CA

 

I pledge allegiance to my scars in the United States of Intuity
And to the pubic hair for where it stands
One libation
Under the Goddess
With Liberty and Justice for Gaza!

Anah-karelia Coates
Madrid, NM

 

I pledge arraignment
to the felon of the
unaccountable stags of
a married coward &
to the recovery
for which we stagger
one drunk trying
to stay sober
one day at a time
for the next four years

Sunfrog
Cookeville, TN

 

I pledge allegiance to the fire from which knowledge comes
…..and to the renewal for which it stands

no, I pledge allegiance to the forest
…..to each trunk that lifts to sky
…..the mighty rooms of acorns’ tiny houses
the bark, the xylem, the leaf nest egg

I pledge allegiance to the phosphorous to which
…..we will all return, and to the rolling universe
………its spider legs the gallop with which
time fills our eyes, our mouths, knees fingers bones

and to the soil cupping the volcano heart
of this world, where blood can be a river, mountains grow deep
…..into sky, their long history of rubble and fold,
………and the rivers run always down to the sea.

Tobey Hiller
San Rafael CA

 

Me? I’m all about
the startle of sun
and cloud tumbling
in a sky I look up to
all of the time, all of it
navigating my cities of
a god, lady-god-
on-a-hill, a lady-god,
our god, our allegiance
to the chase of beauty
and looking up, away
and with gratitude.
What else completes
but to look up and feast.

Sarah Sarai
New York City

 

2025 NEW PLEDGES OF ALLEGIANCE

1
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
to no allegiances
To Adaptation to this Age of Experience
To resumption with/connection to
All that is Conscious and Viable
To strengthen WE of weakness
Affirm all dubious
Assert space for those with no space
Words for the silent.Silence for verbose
Agreement for contentiousness
Solutions for those of love.

2
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO BREATH
Prana.Chi.Ka-To their cyclic continuance
throughout our Body Politic.To the Liberation of Air-
from cars,trucks,toxic waste,radioactivity
I long for This Moment-To Be of Bliss
And To Last Forever!

3
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO ALL ELEMENTS
To Earth,Air,Fire,Water,Metal,Wood
All Billions Species-All Periodic Tables
All Sand(Silica).Waves(Particles)
Kinetic and Potential
Ah!(Wo)Man!

4
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO “WE”
To Co-Operation and Community
To the Survival of all of us
All that is Sacred,Secular,Holy,Profane
Brilliant and Dull.May All Thrive!Come Alive!
In this Moment.YES!

5
I DO NOT PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE
To anyone.Anywhere.Anytime=
I offer my Interdependence
with other Conscious and Supra-Conscious Entities
And enjoy communing with Consenting Consciousness-
Relying upon their Existences(as much as my own..

6
I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE SUN
Our only solar powered heat source
And to our only moon
Lonely,bruised,beaten like a 1950s wife
Pockmarked,imperfect,strewn with failed rocket parts
Still receiving abuse like a 1950’s housewife
How much more can you take?
Before you reverse our Poles
Just like you did for Immanuel Velikovski?

Spirit Thom
Austin, TX

 

I pledge allegiance to that little creek that runs wild
after the January rains
until the land around her dries out a few months later

I pledge allegiance to the lichen
that longs for the stream’s moisture during that time of absence
and how it drinks in the cool light from the north side

I pledge allegiance to the redwoods and bay laurels
who shade the path where forest bunnies camouflage
in the shadows and coyotes and skunks
hustle down to the water after dark

I pledge allegiance to these flora and fauna
on their reservation, the tiny piece of mock wilderness
arrogant humanity provides them with
and to the stones and their rivulets

I pledge allegiance to animal, vegetable, and mineral
I pledge allegiance to questions
and the sounds we make when we ask them

I pledge allegiance to carbon
how it grasps every manner of molecule to it
How it forms the base of everything we need
long and short strings of matter, sometimes twisted

I pledge allegiance to chlorophyll
and all the mysterious catalysts
that feed us, that allow us to be fed

I even pledge allegiance
to the ancient animal and vegetable turned liquid
that drives us. Let it be.
That is, I pledge allegiance
to leaving petroleum in the ground

I pledge no allegiance to diamonds
and useless gold, no allegiance to pure commerce
to cutting into things or molding them
for monetary profit

I offer skeptical allegiance
to every element found in nature
how we might need each, even in traces, to live
how each might destroy us

What use is uranium, snuggled deep
where it smolders. Let it warm its neighbors there
Give it time
to turn to lead

I pledge allegiance to fire
cooled and sharpened, that is
I pledge allegiance
to obsidian, sand turned glass, one of the first
weapons we shaped, once we noticed
how sharp the edges and how,
if we hold it up to light
we can see our reflection

I pledge allegiance to
the divine primitive
first things first

I pledge allegiance to my children’s children
and how much
they love the sea

In other words
I pledge allegiance
to the hot heart

whose crust we stand on
and everything that strives
to cool it

Norma Smith
Berkeley, California

 

Pledge of Resistance

I pledge allegiance to those who resist
the divided classes of America
and the oligarchy that seeks to rule
one nation under greed
easily led
by ignorance, apathy, and fear.

Sue Storts
Oklahoma

 

I pledge allegiance to my uncertainty,
my search for the answers
I may never find. I promise
to look above, below,
in all directions every day
and say a prayer of gratitude.
Let me never forget the sky
knows no borders.
I am part of the Milky Way
and there are galaxies
that send messages
from a million light years away.
I promise to watch each phase
of the moon, from its fullest
to its darkest sides.
I pledge allegiance to the stars
that give me directions,
teach me to find my way
to freedom. I pledge allegiance
to memory of the molten core
under my feet; the mitochondria
in the cells that hold us together;
my ancestors’ trembling hands;
the smiles of strangers, the cries
of babies. I pledge allegiance
to the places where land
gives way to water, ice melts.
The courage it takes to enter
to rescue a life, the first and the last.
I pledge to be kin and kind.
To shelter our shared house
of awe on this planet.
I pledge to welcome today’s sunrise,
sunset, hope. To be true
to every poem I write.

Karen Marker
Oakland, CA

 

I pledge allegiance
to skinned knees,
the bark on trees
in the wider circle
of Capricorn,

under the northern lights
rubbed with iodine
by a mother
who knew blue
was the best color
for pain

and to the blanket forts
for which it snags
and stands
brandished from
these tiny hands

one multiverse,
underdogged
like a swingset dream
we flew from
indivisible with sky.

Kerry Cox
California

 

I Pledge Allegiance

How can I pledge allegiance
To a nation divided?
I believe in free speech,
Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Oh, say, can you see?
From the hate of the Right?
How so proudly they bow
For their heartless leader
And his minions all around
Clap like puppets blindly:
Over immigrants’ rights
They step every which way.
And Musk’s rockets pollute
All the planets above
And below them the Earth,
Gets burned into ashes.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled
banner yet wave,
Over the land of the few
And the home of the great,
You know, the ones the not
My President wants to dispose of.
Those are the ones I pledge my allegiance to.

Martina Robles Gallegos
Oxnard, CA

 

For All

Ah to be alive
…..on a mid-September morn
…..fording a stream
…..barefoot, pants rolled up,
…..holding boots, pack on,
…..sunshine, ice in the shallows,
…..northern rockies.

Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
…..cold nose dripping
…..singing inside
…..creek music, heart music,
…..smell of sun on gravel.

…..I pledge allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the soil
…..of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
…..one ecosystem
…..in diversity
…..under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.

Gary Snyder
California

 

I we promise eyes and breath
to the soil and stardust
of the shared air and water
of our living spirit

and to the collective beating heart of humanity
for which it creates
one love under ancient breathing forests
in harmonious communion
with clear water nourishment and respect
for all

Peggy Morrison
Oakland, CA

 

I pledge allegiance
to kindness, may I forever offer
words of encouragement
and aid to the less fortunate,
to my diverse neighborhood—
dog walkers and feral cat feeders,
to my garden, a refuge in all seasons,
to the chickadees, sparrows,
hummingbirds, and even the crows,
who know no politics,
to friendship that sustains me
with warm hugs and empathy,
to the dancers who revel,
to the singers who raise their voices
in words of old songs—
We shall overcome.

Louise Moises
Richmond, CA

 

I pledge allegiance
To the Constitution and Bill of Rights
(The real reason I live here)
No matter who is allegedly
Representing it,
And to the fellowship of Artists & Writers,
Slant voices in an up-and-down world,
And to publishing as many as I can,
While people are still listening
Or even if they’re not

Deborah Fruchey
Walnut Creek, CA

 

I pledge allegiance to

the sun, but especially when it does not rise
the fuzz on my chin, and also to removing it
skin, thriving in skin, your skin, mine
maternal muscles that clench or open on instinct
masculine stillness, to all genders to the spectrum
cocooning from the piercing of words or ideas or bodily harm
boiling at injustice to the rage of all who are oppressed to uprising to revolt
hands giving souls to the things they make
white noise when my mind is silent
surrendering to passion
falling in love
to you

Taneesh Kaur
San Francisco, CA

 

Loyalty

I pledge allegiance to Judaism, communism, free love, music, and rebellion.
Fascism is un-American. America is rebellion, justice, freedom, and the melting pot of culture.
Fuck those who seek to divide us by race, religion, gender, and generation.
I fucking refuse to hate anyone except those who teach us to hate one another.
My values are sewn to my heart and they will not change.
Peace, cooperation, and love is the future.

D.L. Lang
Vallejo, CA

 

2025 Pledge

No matter what smack they talk
no matter what sick lies they tell
no matter what claims they make
………..to dominion over me and my friends
………..and all those I ever loved
………..and all those I would love if I knew them
………..which is pretty much
………..everyone

I pledge to promptly remove
………..all hooks they try to sink
………..into my heart and mind
………..my love persisting in the face of hate
………..my imagination intact
………..my mental sovereignty
………..unassailable

I pledge to hold my fear and yours
………..tenderly, saying
………..there there, dear fear,
………..to be a trusty someone
………..you can stand alongside,
………..a demilitarized zone
………..where we both
………..can breathe easy

I pledge to speak truth to you
………..to know truth when I hear it
………..and to always avow
………..our inherent need for one another
………..indivisible

I pledge allegiance to the one
………..American icon I can get behind
………..without feeling squeamy—
………..Lady Liberty
………..May we all be free

I pledge to remember
………..that someday is today
………..and whatever I’ve figured out is worth
………..doing in this world,
………..whatever way I can prevent or undo
………..even a little of this rampant
………..cruelty and harm,
………..it’s time to get on with it
………..Now!

Kitty Costello
San Francisco, CA

 

I pledge allegiance to cookies & Lycra
Handmaids of decline
It’s the Fall of the Republic
People and reason
Discarded
These edible panties replacing our small clothes
Fragile ego displays
The hee haw variety show of collective endeavor
kakistocracy fiasco
Funny not funny
Laughing to the gallows
Electric trucks man the apparatus
Hang me high and drop me fast
Mouth off the sphincter,
Digital salute 🖕🏽
Cue violins

Suzi Kaplan Olmsted
Portland, OR

 

Flag Migraine

The ‘Financial Services’ hatchback with antenna waving US flag
Has stupid headache inducing Flashing LED lights that corkscrew
Behind my ocular migrane, revealing the Future worm come to
This world to feast.

O give me Mishima’s pure fascism of flags, uniforms, and
sloppy Seppuku decapitations—the Rising Sun fluttering in a
bloody sky—the moment missed…
Stage Directions: lay out the winding cloth for when the first
slim Blade airs out the foul intestines
—the second, wielded by a lover or bestie off stage—
The tatami mat, the headband, silk kimono—a brilliant gold to
Highlight the blood of a head meant to fall clean but doesn’t
And that’s what you get for sending an amateur…

I wave a white flag and vow to give up TV
I salute the Stars and Stripes over tariff-empty food shelves
I raise the coiled snake flag of Don’t Tread on Me
I ban the rainbow flag
—how dare they steal the empty sky?
Give them the rainbow of oil slicked pavement mixed with
Blood from billy-cracked skulls—there’s a rainbow for you…

Today’s a Super Bowl of flags half-masted for the dead of…
(Fill in the headline)
Waving over the sea-to-greedy sea of retribution
The honor guard will march with holstered flags
Flapping in profusions of patriotic fury as the
Bodies crash on the immaculate artificial green grass
We salute you, who are about to die
Enjoy the billion-dollar trophy.

We will raise the Stars and Bars in the US Capitol January 6th
Into perpetuity because the Lost Cause was threatened again by
The hungry
Impale the woke with lance-flags
Lights! Camera! Rocket’s blood-glare:
………..Selfie with the cop’s smashed head
That screams America the beautiful
As the scaffolding is erected.

Here we are now, with our bear spray
Tourists full of love, freed from prisons to sing the song
Of the club and bloody shirt again
Here we are: just as we said, gutting the peoples’ house
Here we are: firing the career knowledge holders of
How Things Work, cutting off the world’s food and medicine
Wave the flag of the dark Magus, the black banner of the
Billionaire’s fuck-you money
It was a simple Constitution for complicated people
Now just a tax-code of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for
The wealthy, so help us…

Peter Marti
Watsonville, CA

 

Edge to Allegiance

I pledge allegiance
to the primary colors
of red, yellow and blue
and to all the shapes like blocks
and spheres and cones
my little hands came to learn with
when I was left alone with my fears
in New England schoolyards
far below the Sun
and under watchful herons
and honestly because I have no choice
I pledge allegiance to time as well
to that unswerving and undeterred minute hand
and whereas I pledge allegiance to coming of age,
to having become an adult
piece by piece and death by death
and moment by moment and kiss by kiss
I pledge allegiance to the Panasonic stereo system
and the Radio Shack smoke machine
ever present in the dances
from high school to college to the bars
I pledge allegiance to the woman’s signaling look
in those bars
to the smoke in her eyes
to the best words I ever said
to the repartee that brought me to her bed
and I edge to allegiance to the straining brassiere
and to the compelling cheeky short derriere
and to her gasps and moans,
to the nipple ring and belly hoop realpolitik
above the fruited plain, hallowed be her name,
I edge to allegiance to every little death
I have been privileged to bring into the life of her
for the life of her, for the life of me
and how could I after all of this this
not pledge allegiance also to the Moon
and to her blood red lipstick, and to her sheer black tights
and to the relentlessly scorching Chanel No. 3 of it all
and to the Moon to the Moon to the Moon I said,
even if for all we know
she’s just a painting, a blissed-out eye of white
up there in that inexplicable night
that contains us all of us
with lividity and tongue
and breath play
for all

Rich Boucher
Rio Rancho, NM

 

A New Pledge With a Line from Carl Sagan

I pledge my allegiance to this pale blue dot,
and to all of its species that do live here,
and to all of its air, its land and its seas,
one speck
within a vast space,
spinning like a dust mote in a sunbeam.

Susana Gonzales
Tucson, AZ

 

I pledge

I pledge allegiance to the pollinators
awakened to plunge deep into throbbing hearts
of life….to reflect the cycles of strobing souls

I pledge allegiance to the pollinators
in every guise….wings….fur….skin
and shimmering metaphor as they rise

I pledge my support….to seed and nurture
to allow the plantings to grow….perpetuate
fertile landscape for the future of creation.

Joanne Gram
Lansing, Michigan

 

I pledge allegiance
to myself

to stay strong for those
who will need me to be
resolute and unyielding

in upholding the values and truths,
honoring those who went before,
fashioning what citizenship

in the United States of America means:

an unyielding belief in
the right of each one of us
to stand up for and act upon
our equal and inalienable rights
to pursue our hearts’ wholeness
in love, action and unity
for the good of ALL!

Mary Jiordano
Royal Oak, MI

 

I pledge allegiance to the Big Blue Marble
That we cling to as she spins through the universe
I dedicate myself to preserving her fragile life forms
Overcoming sinister destructive forces
That threaten her blue existence
Our mission is restoring joyous harmonies
She is the only ride we have

Cindy Stewart
Gleneden Beach, OR

 

Forge of Alliance

I forge my alliance
with the frogs and
their united uproar of spring peeping,
with the sinewy copperhead eager
to avoid me as I am
awestruck to spot her,
with the baby pine trees
of softest green
and the grandmother pine
beneath whom they shelter.
Mile by mile rambling these Blue Hills
in sight of Boston,
saved from greedy bulldozers and cranes
by the grace of unbuild-ability,
my allegiance to our Mother awakens
like the newborn fawn licked into life
deep in these stony woods.

Sandy Bailey
Boston, Massachusetts

 

A Conflicted Soldier’s Pledge

I pledge my unwavering dedication
To the citizens of the United States of America
During a time of clear division,
I stand armed with my highly calibrated moral compass
For you, native, naturalized, and immigrant citizens,
I stand to fight for your individual freedom

Anonymous
Somewhere in New England

 

“I Cannot Pledge Allegiance”

I cannot pledge allegiance to a flag
founded upon White Supremacy,
dehumanization, colonization, genocide,
ethnic cleansing, chattel slavery,
and countless other violent crimes
against humanity.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
that routinely tied a Bible to the end of a stick
and tried to beat my people to death with it.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
that violently exploited my ancestors of color,
slaughtering the Indigenous ones for the land
while barbarically enslaving the African ones
for centuries of unpaid labor.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
that gave my skin the color of slave-rape.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
that still uses the same vile slavery
as a punishment for crime.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
that burned crosses on my front lawn,
hanged my people from the highest trees,
and bombed Black Wall Street to the ground.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
that still drip-drip-drips with the blood
of my victimized brothers and sisters of color
throughout the world.
I cannot pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
nor to the racism for which it stands,
one nation under greed, indivisible,
with deception and extinction for all.

(c) 2025, Ken Scott
Los Angeles, California

 

My Pledge

I pledge to alleviate
My allegiance
to a country
that demands
Obedience
that criminalizes
Free thought
and infringes upon
bodily autonomy.

So help me.
So help us all.

Kathryn Burkett
Eustis, FL

— Previously published in The Alien Buddha’s Big Backpack Full of Soup Cans (Soup for Our Family): Malcontent Poems —